Christmas Our style {and don't forget that A Handmade Christmas starts tomorrow!}

I love special occasions like holidays, birthdays, weddings, etc. It is so fun to decorate, make things special and maybe even dress up. I also enjoy gifts, giving them and, yes, getting them. It is fun to see them all wrapped up pretty to know the excitement that a gift brings.

But that said there are things I don't like about what I mentioned above. I don't like feeling overwhelmed with trying to figure out how to get just the right thing while staying within our budget, I don't like getting something that I know somebody spent good money on and I don't even know if I will ever use it, I don't like to see children all focused on writing lists of what they want and not ever thinking about others, I don't like commercialism, I don't like the idea of going into debt simply over a holiday and I don't like all the waste - the buying of things that we don't really need, quite likely with money that we don't have.

So when Ken and I discussed how we would celebrate Christmas in our home those topics of course came up. We wanted to make sure that we did not incorporate the things I didn't like into our holiday. So what worked for us was to come up with some rules:

This is what has worked Beautifully for us {I repeat- for us- each family can come up with what best works for them.}

• Christmas gift exchange is done only within our small family, that doesn't mean that was haven't given gifts to others or received them from others but we do not participate in any gift exchange. When we give to others it is without any thought that we will get anything in return and we have never started any sort of exchange with extended family either.


• We each have a Christmas stocking and all gifts are required to fit inside. That is just the way we have chosen to limit gifts. It doesn't necessarily limit the expense as you can find small expensive things -but we have kept our spending very reasonable. Family members have to work together to make sure that each of their presents will fit in each persons stocking.
• This isn't a rule but just what we do- most of the gifts are handmade. I made most of the kid's gifts which are given from Ken and I. The kids make all of their gifts which they give to each other and to Ken and I. We have fun for at least the month before Christmas sharing ideas, working together, having little secrets which the others don't mind being excluded from because they know it means something special for them. Pretty nearly all our handmade stuff is made with things that we already have on hand (we do a lot of repurposing around here - you know like "trash to treasure") which makes them basically free.
• We do not buy a Christmas tree but decorate simply with natural things that we can find in the woods, and other things that we have around the house. One Christmas splurge we do enjoy is lights. Ken has collected lights every year when they go on clearance and he puts up a pretty nice display now.

I am sure most people might find our style very sparse but we love it! The kids get very excited about Christmas and absolutely love making things to give. They also very much enjoy the presents they get. Last year I believe it was Mara who commented "I don't know which is more fun, getting presents or giving them."

During the Christmas we also enjoy having company over for a big meal. Last year we had a pretty big group with extended family and various others who didn't have anywhere else to go for the holiday. We have fun decorating for that and preparing our home cooked food. Usually we spend a lot of time playing games and visiting too.

If you are interested in (or quite likely already working on!) making handmade gifts for Christmas too ~ I want to invite you to come back here tomorrow for the beginning of "A Handmade Christmas". I will be sharing handmade gift ideas, decorating, etc. and will have a McLinky up so you can link up your posts of Handmade things as well! Please join me! (There is a giveaway planned for those who link

up too!)

This post is Linked to We are THAT family for Works for Me Wednesday. Kristen has a theme today and that is what works for you during the Holidays. I am sure there will be a lot of interesting posts full of lots of neat ideas.

Tins!

My friend A did some more tins, and I like them all. So I thought I'd share them with you ;-) This one's good for a boy.

Size : Large

Price : RM95

Status : SOLD!

This I thought was brilliant for people who love to sew - like me. I'm thinking of all the goodies that can fit into this tin . . .

Size : Large

Price : RM95

Status : SOLD!

Making Kimchee and Sauerkraut

A big project I got to be a part of lately was making Kimchee (or kimchi) and Sauerkraut with my parents. They have done it for several years but this was the first time that I had helped them. I was more interested in it this year after reading in "Nourishing Traditions" on how good fermented food (and she mentions these) is for you.

I took some notes and thought I would share the process with you! So here we go....

First you need some cabbage. My parents grew lots of them and they were huge and beautiful! For Kraut the normal hard cabbage works good, for Kimchee you want Napa cabbage. You want to take off the outer leaves and then cut out the heart (you don't want to use it).

Then we cut them up into chunks that would fit into my food processor and I used that to get them all grated. The food processor was quite nice to get it all done fast but in the past Mom and Dad have just cut everything up finely with a knife and it worked just fine. For the Kraut we used the grating side ( which made it pretty fine) and for the Kimchee we used the slicer which made it a bit courser.

We were making a pretty big batch but you could easily make just a third or less of these recipes. Here are the actual ingredients and amounts:

Kimchee

30 lbs sliced up Napa cabbage

2 cups fresh or frozen chopped up Hot Pepper

1 cup fresh ginger (chopped up)

1 1/2 cups garlic (chopped up)

1 1/2 cups salt

3/4 cup sugar

The food processor worked good for cutting up the garlic, ginger and peppers too.

Sauerkraut

for every 10 lbs of shredded cabbage (we had 30 lbs) add:

1/2 cup salt

1/8 cup sugar

Dad used 5 gallon buckets (which he has collected from restaurant- they get food in them) to mix the stuff in. He would carefully weigh 10 lbs of Cabbage in each bucket and then mix in the other ingredients in. In the case of the kimchee he mixed all the other ingredients together in a bowl first and then put a third of that mixture into each bucket of cabbage.

After each bucket with its 10 lbs of cabbage was mixed with its other ingredients then Dad (and in the picture above Aaron got to try it out too) would use a wooden tamper he had made and just push down on everything, over and over again until the juices started to come out.

After the juice got so it covered up the cabbage in the bucket then we would add more from the other buckets to it and start tamping again. In the end we were able to get all 3 buckets worth of cabbage into one bucket. This process is the same for both the Kimchee and the Kraut.

The process is almost over now....

At this point Dad took a circle of plastic he had made that just fits inside the bucket and he laid that on top of the Kimchee and the Kraut. Then he put a big heavy rock on top of the plastic circle. When I first saw the rocks, Mom was scrubbing them very carefully and I wasn't quite sure why she found the need to scrub rocks but since I found out they were part of the process it made sense.

Now it needs to ferment. For Kraut: You want to keep it somewhere that temperatures are between 60-75 degrees. If it goes over 75 degrees the cabbage will get to soft and if it is below 60 degrees it may not ferment like it is supposed to. You can keep it here from 3-6 weeks (the higher the temperature the less time and if it is closer to 60 degrees you may need more time) After this it can be kept in the fridge or canned but my guess is that when it gets canned it probably loses a lot of the health benefits.

For Kimchee you can do basically the same as above but around 1 week should be sufficient before transferring to refrigerator or root cellar temperature.

I brought some home in jars (skipping the sitting in a bucket with the weight step) and just left it tightly closed, sitting on my counter for a few days and now it is the fridge. I was reading that you can make your whole batch in a jar if you like using just one cabbage and tamping it down with a pounder or a meat hammer or whatever you have that would work.

Kimchee is an interesting food item but it kind off grows on you. I have been enjoying putting it on bland things like mashed potatoes.

Now I am curious... have you ever made Sauerkraut or Kimchee? Have you tried them? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas. If you try it, please report back and let me know how it works for you!

This is linked to: Do It Yourself Day at "A soft place to land"

Teaching The Next Generation

When my mom was visiting last weekend, she helped Charlotte work on her quilt. A few months ago, Nana took Charlotte to the fabric store and helped her pick out her fabric. Charlotte has strong ideas about what she likes and doesn't like.
Nana cut out the quilt blocks for Charlotte.
Next she drew a line on the top of the block so Charlotte would have an easier time learning to sew straight.
Charlotte threaded the needle by herself and Nana tied the knot. Off she went. It's amazing how fast she picked up this skill. She didn't even poke herself with the needle.



Here are blocks number 1 and 2 seamed together. Look at that proud smile.

Here she is sewing the fourth block in place. I think she would have happily sat there all day sewing blocks together.
This will be a very special quilt that I know Charlotte (and I) will treasure.
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I'm so happy that my mom has the time and patience to teach my children these types of skills. She did that for us as children and I'm so grateful to her for that.
In a time of endless technology, these basic skills are being lost. I'm happy to know they're not being lost in our family.
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My mom is hoping to one day teach classes on sewing and quilting to children and adults from her home. She's already proven herself a great teacher.

Abundance

O give thanks to the Lord,

for He is good;

for His loving kindness is everlasting.

1 Chronicles 16:34

God abundantly blesses! Here is a little bitty tiny example:

Thank-you God for......

89. Homeschooling. I feel so blessed to be able to spend each and every day having fun learning with my children.

90. Books. There are so many neat ones to enjoy. I have found some lovely ones lately.

91. Abundance of food. I cleaned the defrosted the freezer and organized it this past week and was just overwhelmed with how much good, natural and organic food we have been able to stock away. God is so Good!

92. 1/2 a steer. Grass fed, hormone free, local. I am so thankful that God provides for us so well.
93. Overhearing my children having fun having their Geckos act out Bible Stories. It is so fun to hear how well they remember and grasp them.

94. Questions. I used to struggle with this at times when Mara would fire questions at me a mile a minute and I felt a bit overwhelmed. She has slowed down a bit but she and Aaron (those 2 especially) still love to ask questions. They are especially full of questions when we read the Bible. I love the discussions that we end up having.

95. Sunrises. I love seeing sunrises and sunsets. They leave me standing in awe of our great Creator every time!

96. God's versatility in decorating. One day we will be enjoying pretty fall leaves, then gorgeous sunrises and then beautiful white snow. This Fall has been interesting and it has been FUN!

97. Humor in places I don't suspect. I don't think you can read the picture very well but on Sunday my parents brought my a bunch of Goatburger that they had packaged up for us. My little sister and friends had labeled it and they were all interesting, things like "Spider legs", "Squashed earth worms", "Boogers", "Belly button lint" and so forth. It made me laugh.

98. Smiles, Creativity and fun. I love watching my kids have fun!

99.Prayer. Oh I am so thankful to have a God that I can talk to personally, who cares about everything that bothers me, makes me sad and just anything and everything. He is always there and I can pour out my heart to him while driving down the road, standing in the shower, washing dishes, just anywhere!

100. Not having to be afraid about anything because I have a God who cares far more for me (and my family....and you and your family....and....) than any sparrow that falls, than anything. He knows how many hairs I have on my head. He knows me better than I know myself.